An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
On Tuesday, April 16, 1861, the Virginia Convention in Richmond entered secret session to debate secession and a potential alliance with the Confederate States. The next day, delegates voted 88 to 55 in favor of secession, pending a popular referendum set for May 23. Ten days into the session, on April 25, they approved ordinances…
Continue reading ➞ 165 Years Ago: Virginia Convention Calls for Alliance with the Confederate States
John Beauchamp Jones (1810–1866) served as a senior clerk in the Confederate War Department, having spent much of his earlier life in Missouri and Maryland. A novelist and newspaper publisher, he owned the pro-Southern Southern Monitor in Philadelphia before the war. In Richmond, he witnessed many of the Confederacy’s defining moments and recorded them in…
On Sunday, April 7, 1861, former congressman and outspoken Virginia unionist John Minor Botts met with President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to keep Virginia in the Union. Botts was a private citizen, not even a delegate to the Richmond Convention, and his account provides the only record of the meeting. Botts…
At the beginning of April, after only one month in office, President Abraham Lincoln (via Secretary of State William H. Seward) requested an urgent meeting with George W. Summers, a former Congressman from Kanawha County and leader among the unionists at the Virginia Convention in Richmond. Seward sent attorney Allan B. Magruder, brother of "prince…
As 1861 dawned, the secession crisis was boiling over. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had adopted resolutions declaring themselves free and independent states, and they met in Montgomery, Alabama to form a provisional government. Fire-eaters in Virginia agitated for the Old Dominion to join them. Virginia Governor John Letcher called the…
Continue reading ➞ 165 Years Ago: Virginia’s Secession Convention Convenes in Richmond
As February 1861 dawned, there appeared to be no resolution in sight to the secession crisis. Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration was still a month away. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had adopted resolutions declaring themselves free and independent states and were, at that very moment, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, to discuss the…
Continue reading ➞ 165 Years Ago: Washington Peace Convention Opens
Soon after Virginia seceded from the Unites States in May 1861 with the intention of joining the Confederacy, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, as commander of the Department of the Ohio, invaded western Virginia. On June 3, he sent Confederate militia fleeing from the town of Philippi, and in July, he smashed a Confederate…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: The Battle of Corrick’s Ford
Soon after Virginia seceded from the Unites States in May 1861 and joined the Confederacy, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, as commander of the Department of the Ohio, invaded western Virginia under the pretext of protecting unionists there. These western counties would later vote to secede from Virginia and form the state of West…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: The Battle of Rich Mountain
Following an ignominious Confederate defeat at the Battle of Philippi in early June, Robert E. Lee’s adjutant general, Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett, took command of Confederate forces in western Virginia and fortified two key mountain passes: one at Laurel Mountain leading to Leadsville and the other at Rich Mountain to Beverly. Lt. Col. John…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: The Battle of Belington or Laurel Hill
It had been two months and 11 days since Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan invaded northwestern Virginia, and additional volunteer regiments arrived weekly to reinforce him. It had been over a month since Confederate forces fled from Philippi. Their commander, Col. George A. Porterfield, was replaced with Robert E. Lee’s adjutant general, Brig. Gen.…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: A Skirmish at Glenville
Spirit of '61 